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Linda Zhang is the chief engineer for the new battery electric F-150, so she got the job of driving the BEV to pull the train cars.

Ford

The truck pulled 10 double-decker rail cars filled with 42 2019 F-150s a distance of over 1,000 yards. I'll let someone else analyze the video to calculate the power or torque output of the prototype.

Ford

If it wasn't for the decals that proclaim this an electric prototype, you'd think it was just a normal F-150.

Ford

Even if you're not a truck fan, the prospect of a battery electric Ford F-150 is appealing. The F-150 is the nation's best-selling light vehicle with more than 1.1 million sold in 2018, so it would be a good thing if some of those future sales were variants that didn't need to pump out buckets of CO2 every day. To do that, Ford not only needs a competent electric powertrain, it also has to convince some of its customers that dropping the internal combustion engine isn't a downgrade.

Which is probably why the company just released video of a prototype BEV F-150 towing more than a million pounds (453,592kg). Linda Zhang, chief engineer for the electric F-150, used one of the prototypes to pull 10 double-decker train cars carrying 42 2019 F-150s over a distance of more than 1,000 feet (300m). Until now, the heaviest thing pulled by a BEV for a publicity stunt was probably a Qantas Boeing 787 weighing 286,600lbs (130,000kg), which was pulled by a Tesla Model X in 2018.

In less welcome F-150 news, on Monday a class action lawsuit was filed against Ford for overstating the fuel efficiency of the 2018 and 2019 F-150 as well as the 2019 Ford Ranger trucks. The suit alleges that Ford "deliberately miscalculated and misrepresented factors used in vehicle certification testing in order to report that its vehicles used less fuel and emitted less pollution than they actually did. The certification test related cheating centers on the "Coast Down" testing and "Road Load" calculations."

Listing image by Ford

Promoted Comments

Nitpick- that 1.1 million sales per year is F-Series, not F-150. For the purposes of tallying light vehicle sales, I believe F-Series includes all F-150 through F-450 so long as they’re sold with a pickup bed (e.g. chassis cab F-350 and 450 don’t count.)

373 Reader Comments

What I want is a serial hybrid truck. My use case for a truck includes 800 mile one way continuous drives 6-8 times a year through rural areas. I could use a BEV daily as long as it has an honest 150 highway range, but for that, I wouldn’t bother with a truck in the first place.

Because every 3~4 hours you can't take a ~20 minute break? Really?

When that becomes not too much longer than your gas/diesel/food/bathroom stop will be?Really?

When you stop letting perfect be the enemy of good enough you will find you can still survive in the world.

You missed the rural part. Not much rural charging at this point. And if the future is everyone has to stop every 3 hours to take a 30 minute break so their car can partially recharge, well, that's not a very ambitious goal to say the least.

Congrats on misstating my WAG to state it as an "ambitious goal" when given the state of evolution the current EV market is in, it by no means represents the goal (or even in a couple years the reality).

I recall a Mythbusters' episode about fuel economy in two identical Broncos, one driving with A/C on, the other with windows open. 5 gallons of fuel in each and drive laps until they run out of fuel. Ford engineers attended and demonstrated a process that measure fuel/air mixture and calculated MPG using some algorithm. On another episode Jamie decided it was far easier and more accurate to put a totalizer gauge on the fuel line. The Bronco with the windows down won the real world test, the Bronco with A/C on won the simulated test.

I remember watching that first episode you mention about 16 years ago. I am so old!

But how did they stop the train without crashing the car ? I really hoped I'd get an answer before the end of the video. Any expert here with a guess ?

Train cars have brakes.The brakes are applied by spring action and air pressure (provided from the locomotive and daisy chained through the cars) is used to release the brakes.This is a fail-safe design: if the air line is damaged somehow then the brakes will apply.

In order to allow the train to move they certainly had some kind of device providing air pressure.And stopping the train would have been a simple matter of someone opening a valve and letting air out.

The 'test' doesn't have to make sense, people. It's a commercial. They want to sell their product. If it's to people impressed with a rigged test, so be it. People fall for gimmicks all the time. The article didn't need to point out it's a gimmick. Smart people know it's a gimmick, so Jonathan let us make the call.

Just because you're smart doesn't necessarily mean you know much about towing or trucks or physics. I bet there's quite a few people you might otherwise consider to be smart not realize what's really going on here.

Point taken, but my comment was for the critics of the 'test' and the critics of the article describing the test. It's a commercial. It's a sales pitch not a scientific study. And the article described the commercial. So, to follow your point, if even smart people were hoodwinked by the commercial, it's a pretty successful ad campaign and a pretty good test if it garnered customers. Who's the smart one?

The 'test' doesn't have to make sense, people. It's a commercial. They want to sell their product. If it's to people impressed with a rigged test, so be it. People fall for gimmicks all the time. The article didn't need to point out it's a gimmick. Smart people know it's a gimmick, so Jonathan let us make the call.

Just because you're smart doesn't necessarily mean you know much about towing or trucks or physics. I bet there's quite a few people you might otherwise consider to be smart not realize what's really going on here.

Point taken, but my comment was for the critics of the 'test' and the critics of the article describing the test. It's a commercial. It's a sales pitch not a scientific study. And the article described the commercial. So, to follow your point, if even smart people were hoodwinked by the commercial, it's a pretty successful ad campaign.

I'll agree with you there. Plus, just kinda cool to see a truck pull a space shuttle or a train.

The 'test' doesn't have to make sense, people. It's a commercial. They want to sell their product. If it's to people impressed with a rigged test, so be it. People fall for gimmicks all the time. The article didn't need to point out it's a gimmick. Smart people know it's a gimmick, so Jonathan let us make the call.

Just because you're smart doesn't necessarily mean you know much about towing or trucks or physics. I bet there's quite a few people you might otherwise consider to be smart not realize what's really going on here.

Point taken, but my comment was for the critics of the 'test' and the critics of the article describing the test. It's a commercial. It's a sales pitch not a scientific study. And the article described the commercial. So, to follow your point, if even smart people were hoodwinked by the commercial, it's a pretty successful ad campaign.

I'll agree with you there. Plus, just kinda cool to see a truck pool a space shuttle or a train.

I recall a Mythbusters' episode about fuel economy in two identical Broncos, one driving with A/C on, the other with windows open. 5 gallons of fuel in each and drive laps until they run out of fuel. [...]The Bronco with the windows down won the real world test, the Bronco with A/C on won the simulated test.

The August 2019 edition of AIR &SPACE magazine contains a letter to the editor commenting on an article in the June/July 2019 edition entitled 'Why the Soviets Lost" (the "space race" for a manned moon landing). The Soviets made four attempts to launch the N-1 moon rocket but had not conducted preliminary static testing of the first stage (engines). The letter writer claims that a Russian aerodynamicist named Alexandrovich Takaty visited the writer's UCLA engineering executive class in the early 1960s in which Takaty was asked "What is your assessment of differences in Russian and American aerospace development practices?" Takaty said, "In Russia we depend on extensive analysis; in America you do more testing."

Analysis and simulation are important tools to reduce cost in developing new capabilities, but can never take the place of testing. Simulations can only take into account the factors that we know will affect the outcome. We don't know everything (sometimes it seems we know surprisingly little about things that one would think are well known), so testing is necessary.

Although the F150 electric prototype demonstration is clearly a stunt, it is also a test that demonstrates that the prototype does work and can do the task it was given. One suspects that Ford conducted the test privately before inviting customers; it would be interesting to know what kinks they had to work out before getting it to run as smoothly as the video shows.

I recall a Mythbusters' episode about fuel economy in two identical Broncos, one driving with A/C on, the other with windows open. 5 gallons of fuel in each and drive laps until they run out of fuel. [...]The Bronco with the windows down won the real world test, the Bronco with A/C on won the simulated test.

The August 2019 edition of AIR &SPACE magazine contains a letter to the editor commenting on an article in the June/July 2019 edition entitled 'Why the Soviets Lost" (the "space race" for a manned moon landing). The Soviets made four attempts to launch the N-1 moon rocket but had not conducted preliminary static testing of the first stage (engines). The letter writer claims that a Russian aerodynamicist named Alexandrovich Takaty visited the writer's UCLA engineering executive class in the early 1960s in which Takaty was asked "What is your assessment of differences in Russian and American aerospace development practices?" Takaty said, "In Russia we depend on extensive analysis; in America you do more testing."

Analysis and simulation are important tools to reduce cost in developing new capabilities, but can never take the place of testing. Simulations can only take into account the factors that we know will affect the outcome. We don't know everything (sometimes it seems we know surprisingly little about things that one would think are well known), so testing is necessary.

Although the F150 electric prototype demonstration is clearly a stunt, it is also a test that demonstrates that the prototype does work and can do the task it was given. One suspects that Ford conducted the test privately before inviting customers; it would be interesting to know what kinks they had to work out before getting it to run as smoothly as the video shows.

It's the unknown unknowns that'll get ya every time.

Edit- Or put another way, it's what you don't know that you don't know but need to know is the thing that will get you.

You missed the rural part. Not much rural charging at this point. And if the future is everyone has to stop every 3 hours to take a 30 minute break so their car can partially recharge, well, that's not a very ambitious goal to say the least.

Where do you live that you can drive for 800 miles and not encounter even a small town? I'm legitimately curious.

The 'test' doesn't have to make sense, people. It's a commercial. They want to sell their product. If it's to people impressed with a rigged test, so be it. People fall for gimmicks all the time. The article didn't need to point out it's a gimmick. Smart people know it's a gimmick, so Jonathan let us make the call.

Just because you're smart doesn't necessarily mean you know much about towing or trucks or physics. I bet there's quite a few people you might otherwise consider to be smart not realize what's really going on here.

Point taken, but my comment was for the critics of the 'test' and the critics of the article describing the test. It's a commercial. It's a sales pitch not a scientific study. And the article described the commercial. So, to follow your point, if even smart people were hoodwinked by the commercial, it's a pretty successful ad campaign.

I'll agree with you there. Plus, just kinda cool to see a truck pool a space shuttle or a train.

Funny that Rivian isn't being talked about more here, considering that Ford is one of its biggest investors. I just assumed that this stunt was a Rivian powertrain with an F-150 body slapped on top of it.

We don't even know how far along Rivian is towards shipping something salable. if F-150 mules are running around right now, I doubt they have much to do with Rivian at this stage.

It's hard to say. I know one person who has driven the Rivian quite a bit and their test units are definitely real, but I have no idea about how far along they are otherwise.

2 days ago they posted pictures of preproduction body panels, and announced they just started stamping them at their plant in Illinois. They're pretty close to production. Given my experience at GM, I'd say they're probably a year or less from production if they're already stamping panels at the plant. As to the F150 mules, it'd be trivial for Rivian to give them one of theirs. All of Rivians prototype vehicles initially were F150s with the ICE drivetrain ripped out.

An electric truck may be an interesting idea, but it's not really practical for a lot of use cases.

City drivers showing off? Sure. Farmers, Ranchers, rural people? not so much. I regularly see rams or F-series trucks hauling massive loads around here. Ten tons of hay; cattle trailers loaded with livestock, horse trailers, trailers loaded down with a large tractor, that kind of thing.

There aren't too many people who have a truck that don't use the truck. And since we are rural, we'll be last on the list for a supercharger or whatever. I don't think the feed store is going to be putting in a charging station either anytime soon.

No, the only practical way to run electric out here is to charge up overnight then go all day without needing a recharge. And if you are hauling hay out of the field for today, that's going to burn your battery up really fast. And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

A Hybrid truck might work, but full electric? Ain't gonna happen unless you bring a generator along, in which case what's the point?

An electric truck may be an interesting idea, but it's not really practical for a lot of use cases.

City drivers showing off? Sure. Farmers, Ranchers, rural people? not so much. I regularly see rams or F-series trucks hauling massive loads around here. Ten tons of hay; cattle trailers loaded with livestock, horse trailers, trailers loaded down with a large tractor, that kind of thing.

There aren't too many people who have a truck that don't use the truck. And since we are rural, we'll be last on the list for a supercharger or whatever. I don't think the feed store is going to be putting in a charging station either anytime soon.

I think you greatly underestimate the "vanity truck market". No doubt it wouldn't be a fit for everyone, but there is still a huge portion of the truck users who could be served as well or better by BEVs.

An electric truck may be an interesting idea, but it's not really practical for a lot of use cases.

City drivers showing off? Sure. Farmers, Ranchers, rural people? not so much. I regularly see rams or F-series trucks hauling massive loads around here. Ten tons of hay; cattle trailers loaded with livestock, horse trailers, trailers loaded down with a large tractor, that kind of thing.

There aren't too many people who have a truck that don't use the truck. And since we are rural, we'll be last on the list for a supercharger or whatever. I don't think the feed store is going to be putting in a charging station either anytime soon.

No, the only practical way to run electric out here is to charge up overnight then go all day without needing a recharge. And if you are hauling hay out of the field for today, that's going to burn your battery up really fast. And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

A Hybrid truck might work, but full electric? Ain't gonna happen unless you bring a generator along, in which case what's the point?

An electric truck with around a 300 mile range will be perfect for the farmers and ranchers that you describe. Then you just charge it overnight. I’ve hauled hay bales off fields for the entire day. I am pretty sure that I used less juice than 300 miles of highway cruising.

An electric truck may be an interesting idea, but it's not really practical for a lot of use cases.

City drivers showing off? Sure. Farmers, Ranchers, rural people? not so much. I regularly see rams or F-series trucks hauling massive loads around here. Ten tons of hay; cattle trailers loaded with livestock, horse trailers, trailers loaded down with a large tractor, that kind of thing.

There aren't too many people who have a truck that don't use the truck. And since we are rural, we'll be last on the list for a supercharger or whatever. I don't think the feed store is going to be putting in a charging station either anytime soon.

No, the only practical way to run electric out here is to charge up overnight then go all day without needing a recharge. And if you are hauling hay out of the field for today, that's going to burn your battery up really fast. And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

A Hybrid truck might work, but full electric? Ain't gonna happen unless you bring a generator along, in which case what's the point?

An electric truck with around a 300 mile range will be perfect for the farmers and ranchers that you describe. Then you just charge it overnight. I’ve hauled hay bales off fields for the entire day. I am pretty sure that I used less juice than 300 miles of highway cruising.

Even better -that farmer won't have to take the truck in to the gas station to top it off at regular intervals. Just charge make sure to plug it in overnight. And if that farmer needs to charge any power tools, or do anything else that might require electricity where they're working, they've got a huge battery to draw power from!

I think you greatly underestimate the "vanity truck market". No doubt it wouldn't be a fit for everyone, but there is still a huge portion of the truck users who could be served as well or better by BEVs.

No doubt, but there's this push by the electric car/Tesla superfans to claim that everyone should switch over to electric immediately and only redneck hillbillies who love hurting Mother Gaia would possibly disagree.

Not at all true. Pure Electric is purely a nonstarter in most rural areas. The closest electric charging station of any kind is over a half hour away in another county.

Heck, I'd rather get a biomass burning truck. They have them on a hobby level.--conversions that burn wood pellets or suchlike. At least with one of those I can toss a spare bag or two of pellets in the back if I know I need more range that day. And a 50 pound bag of pellets is 5 bucks... heck of a lot less than a full tank of fuel.

As much as I appreciate that this is an impressive feat .. I'm not a fan of the flag-waving kool-aid videos.

I'd have much preferred this was a bit more independent with some of the science behind it spelled out.

I mean .. how much torque do you require to do this? What would happen if you tried this in a regular F-150? How much impact does gearing and tyre grip have on this?

A regular manual F-150 couldn't do it, because you'd melt the clutch. An automatic could do it, maybe, if you really beefed up the torque converter's cooling. But of course, an electric - any electric - will do this, no problem. Maybe you'd have to put extra ballast on a Volt to get enough traction, but that torque from zero is unbeatable.

Many pickups have a 2 speed transfer case allowing you to set a "low range" where the maximum speed of the truck is reduced to about 15mph. This would be plenty to do this with pretty much any engine.

This would be more effective as an advertisement for the manufacturer of the bearings on the railroad car. It says almost nothing for the truck. Perhaps they should drag race with a loaded trailer instead.

Bring on the electric pickups, though!

I'd love to see your tractor get that moving without nuking the clutch. This is exactly the kind of scenario where electric trucks beat the pants off ICE. Even an automatic would probably end up cooking the torque converter trying to do something like this, and it would still struggle even if it didn't because you'd be limited to, at most, maybe 3000RPM because after that the torque converter locks up and the engine would stall.

And I'll bet my steel toe work boots in a meal your wrong. The only way your going to harm that clutch is by slipping it while trying to get the train moving while there is no slack in the tow strap.

As for an automatic the torque converter will be fine, the clutch pack on first if you try that same stunt, however.

I think you greatly underestimate the "vanity truck market". No doubt it wouldn't be a fit for everyone, but there is still a huge portion of the truck users who could be served as well or better by BEVs.

No doubt, but there's this push by the electric car/Tesla superfans to claim that everyone should switch over to electric immediately and only redneck hillbillies who love hurting Mother Gaia would possibly disagree.

Not at all true. Pure Electric is purely a nonstarter in most rural areas. The closest electric charging station of any kind is over a half hour away in another county.

Heck, I'd rather get a biomass burning truck. They have them on a hobby level.--conversions that burn wood pellets or suchlike. At least with one of those I can toss a spare bag or two of pellets in the back if I know I need more range that day. And a 50 pound bag of pellets is 5 bucks... heck of a lot less than a full tank of fuel.

Fortunately for farmers, MoodyFan, there was this program put in place by FDR in the 1930s called the rural electrification act that made sure that every domicile in America got power sometime around 50-70 years ago.

And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

Lots. Highway cruise is going to chew up 5-10x the power of a portable welder, and thats only when you’re actually welding.

Also, who the fuck fixes a fence with a welder?

Depends on the fence! I've seen a few "elephant" pens, as my wife calls them. Small pen, with welded rails. Usually have cows in them. Cows are murder on most fences, but if you really want to keep them in, a steel bar fence will do the job. Expensive? Not Practical for large areas? Yep. But still, sometimes you've got to fix them. Also, those portable stock panels are metal as well and sometimes need fixing, though you can bring them to the shop if you need to.

Edited to add: There's a cattle feed lot nearby that actually has several large pens with steel welded fence. Course, he has to, with about 2-500 cows in a small area. Any other fence would be gone in a day or two.

And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

Lots. Highway cruise is going to chew up 5-10x the power of a portable welder, and thats only when you’re actually welding.

Also, who the fuck fixes a fence with a welder?

You know they make metal fences? Is there some reason a welder wouldn't be appropriate for that?

Truly asking - I don't know much about welding.

No one builds a field fence out of steel you would weld. They're made using barb wire or wood, because those are cheap, and steel tubing is emphatically NOT. Now, a gate, sure, but gates don't break very often and they don't take much to fix when they do. If we're going to talk about remote welding then you'd be talking about something like fixing a stock tank, stock pen, or perhaps a broken and stranded tractor.

I think you greatly underestimate the "vanity truck market". No doubt it wouldn't be a fit for everyone, but there is still a huge portion of the truck users who could be served as well or better by BEVs.

No doubt, but there's this push by the electric car/Tesla superfans to claim that everyone should switch over to electric immediately and only redneck hillbillies who love hurting Mother Gaia would possibly disagree.

Not at all true. Pure Electric is purely a nonstarter in most rural areas. The closest electric charging station of any kind is over a half hour away in another county.

Heck, I'd rather get a biomass burning truck. They have them on a hobby level.--conversions that burn wood pellets or suchlike. At least with one of those I can toss a spare bag or two of pellets in the back if I know I need more range that day. And a 50 pound bag of pellets is 5 bucks... heck of a lot less than a full tank of fuel.

Is there some reason that rural people don't have electricity at their houses? Is it time to revisit our rural electrification project?

If someone's buying a BEV they might need their connection upgraded, but that can happen over time. Not sure on what is required to charge at home actually.

This seems a really tenuous test; they repeatedly emphasise the weight, but it's not the truck that's lifting it, the rail cars do that, while maintaining barely any surface area contact with the rails (that's the whole point, very, very low friction), so the effective weight is much, much lower than the "million pounds" they keep claiming.

Getting them rolling at all is fair enough, it takes good torque to do it, and that's a big advantage of electric motors, but a decent tractor will do it too, in addition to having better traction over difficult surfaces.

Bit disappointed by this article TBH; it just seems like pure marketing spiel, no real depth into the physics of what the test actually shows, and not really covering the limited relevance to actual use.

Of course I'm pleased to see a move to electric, that's a good thing, but this "test" is a joke; it's the same as when a strong-man hauls a double decker bus, it's not easy but it's also not as impressive as it first appears either (anybody reasonably fit with suitable grip support can do it), just like there are a bunch of vehicles that could haul these freight cars, and some of them not all necessarily even that specialised.

That is the point! This is a marketing gimmick that is meant to appeal to mainstream truck buyers and showing that your truck can pull a million pounds is appealing. The entire purpose of the video is to show that you loose nothing going electric to people who are the type to buy a truck for their daily commute and put a sweet lift on it. It isn't about the science of it because the science isn't interesting. Like you said, this isn't anything hard or even really new. It's whole purpose is for marketing. If you are looking for scientific facts and comparisons from a video that is comparable to a commercial you are an idiot.

As to why Ars is reporting on it? It is unique and is one of the first demonstrations of an actual electric truck. The only other electric truck anyone has actually seen is the Rivian R1T that has similar promo videos on Youtube. In-fact, this just may be a fruit of that endeavor considering Ford's 500M investment in Rivian. It would be quick considering that it was only announced earlier this year but The platform Rivian has may be very customizable and allowed Ford to just bolt a f150 frame to it.

And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

Lots. Highway cruise is going to chew up 5-10x the power of a portable welder, and thats only when you’re actually welding.

Also, who the fuck fixes a fence with a welder?

You know they make metal fences? Is there some reason a welder wouldn't be appropriate for that?

Truly asking - I don't know much about welding.

No one builds a field fence out of steel you would weld. They're made using barb wire or wood, because those are cheap, and steel tubing is emphatically NOT. Now, a gate, sure, but gates don't break very often and they don't take much to fix when they do. If we're going to talk about remote welding then you'd be talking about something like fixing a stock tank, stock pen, or perhaps a broken and stranded tractor.

You seem to be under the impression that I thought metal fences were commonly used for pastures or something like that. I'm just pointing out - metal fences are a thing for some applications, and it seems like welding is a perfectly appropriate way to fix them if they break.

My point about the farmers/ranchers or other people who actually really use their trucks is simple: Yes, you can charge them at night at home. But what's the range of an electric truck that's hauling ten tons of hay? These range figures are grand, but they are for an unloaded or passengers only load. A truck that's hauling heavy stuff or whatever is going to have a greatly reduced range, requiring much more frequent recharging (just as you have to fill up more frequently when your truck is loaded down). And this is in an area without access to charging facilities during the day.

If you are using your truck, can you make it on one charge overnight, and make it through the day without needing a recharge, when you are hauling lumber or livestock or feed or machinery? Maybe, maybe not. But until it's a definite "Yes, no matter what you are carrying your overnight charge will be enough" then the answer is no, an all electric truck is not viable for most farmers/ranchers what have you.

And the idea upthread about running your welder off your battery bank? Yeah, just how much fence are you going to fix before you are stranded?

Lots. Highway cruise is going to chew up 5-10x the power of a portable welder, and thats only when you’re actually welding.

Also, who the fuck fixes a fence with a welder?

You know they make metal fences? Is there some reason a welder wouldn't be appropriate for that?

Truly asking - I don't know much about welding.

I am not taking the piss.... but do a google image search on farm fence and tell me where you would apply the welder to the majority of those?

I was talking about metal fences. Metal fences exist. You've probably seen them around some yards - steel vertical posts, often with spikes at the top. No need to assume that I think someone would build one of those around a farm.

As much as I appreciate that this is an impressive feat .. I'm not a fan of the flag-waving kool-aid videos.

I'd have much preferred this was a bit more independent with some of the science behind it spelled out.

I mean .. how much torque do you require to do this? What would happen if you tried this in a regular F-150? How much impact does gearing and tyre grip have on this?

I don't know the specific values, but once all the brakes are disengaged a 140lb man, on foot, can push a fully loaded tri-level Autorack with a capacity of 80,000lbs (the type of railcar pictured are bi-levels if they have trucks in them) and set it in motion. From there pushing it a few hundred feet is easier than pushing your car (even if you have a small car). Stopping it is another story.

A useful test to make a comparison would have been hooking a tow rope from the hitch on the EV to a hitch on one of the 2019 F150s in those railcars.

I think you greatly underestimate the "vanity truck market". No doubt it wouldn't be a fit for everyone, but there is still a huge portion of the truck users who could be served as well or better by BEVs.

No doubt, but there's this push by the electric car/Tesla superfans to claim that everyone should switch over to electric immediately and only redneck hillbillies who love hurting Mother Gaia would possibly disagree.

Not at all true. Pure Electric is purely a nonstarter in most rural areas. The closest electric charging station of any kind is over a half hour away in another county.

Heck, I'd rather get a biomass burning truck. They have them on a hobby level.--conversions that burn wood pellets or suchlike. At least with one of those I can toss a spare bag or two of pellets in the back if I know I need more range that day. And a 50 pound bag of pellets is 5 bucks... heck of a lot less than a full tank of fuel.

Serious question, but aren't large ranches/farms far more likely to have access to 3phase/440v power? So "at home (on the ranch/farm)" fast charging doesn't seem like it's completely out of question. Who needs to go to town when you can have it right there?